Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

The next thing we knew it was time to go. I started swimming. It was fairly crowded at the beginning and lots of contact, but nothing too bad. I mean, when you have 2500 athletes in the water you can’t expect to have your own space. I just kept going. And going. And going. The swim course is just an out and back and let me tell you, the out part seemed really long. I thought we were never going to get to the turnaround. We finally made it there and turned around for the trip back.

Shortly after the turnaround, I could tell I was getting cold. At one point I looked at my time and I was 52 minutes in. I knew I’d be in the water at least another 30 minutes. I also started getting a little bit of a cramp at this point. I wasn’t sure exactly what was causing it, but I hoped it would go away.

Finally I got close to the bridges back at the start. I knew that once I went under those I wouldn’t have far to go before I made the final turn to head to the exit. It was pure joy when I made that turn. I knew I’d be out soon. I got to the steps and crawled up on them. This was the advice I was given earlier. They said if you grabbed the bar, your feet would swing under the steps and it would be harder to get out. So I climbed up on them and the volunteer right there pulled me up to a standing position. I slowly walked up the remaining stairs and then had to decide if I was going to get “stripped” or not. I made the last minute decision to do it. And the volunteers definitely stripped me. I don’t think I did a thing. They unzipped me, they got the top off, they laid me on the ground, they got the wetsuit off and they stood me back up on my feet.


Try to swim a little more in colder water and try to really empty my stomach and bladder before the swim. For some reason, my pre-race routine did not totally work today to empty myself.

I was so cold that I knew I couldn’t run. I was frozen. I saw my family briefly and started making the long way to transition. And it was a long way. By the time I got to my transition bag I could hardly feel anything. I was hoping the changing tent would be warm. It was warmer, but I wished they had space heaters in there. I took my time (as obvious by my transition time) to change into dry clothes and make sure I had everything I needed for the bike before I headed out. Then I made the journey to get my bike and get going.

As I got close to where my bike was racked, I called out my number in hopes that a volunteer would grab my bike and have it waiting, but in the end I had to get it myself. Luckily it was only a few bikes in so it didn’t take long. When I got to the mount like there were lots of other folks. They all stopped right at the mount line. Not me. I went past them to a clear spot and got on my bike to start the 112 mile ride.


Try to run more, but I was so cold I couldn't. Try to find a volunteer to help as I did this transition by myself.

For the first part of the bike you meander through town. The course is flat, but you make several turns to get out to the Beeline highway. I probably should have pottied in transition, but somehow I missed the port-a-potties. I knew I’d need to stop soon on the bike, but I didn’t want to stop at the first aid station. I managed to make it to the second aid station and tried to take care of business. I didn’t have the success I wanted (and this would be an issue most of the day) so I just continued. I figured I’d deal with what I needed to as the day went on.

Out on the Beeline you could tell that we had a headwind for the first loop. I think at times I was going 13 or 14mph. I was thinking that people tracking me were probably wondering what was going on, but I knew once I got to the turnaround and headed back into town they would figure it out. And sure enough when I made the turn, I started flying. I was going 24mph+ and it felt great. I wanted to take advantage of the “free speed”. I didn’t feel like I was pushing it for the most part so I just went with it.

There were times when I had to push a little to keep from drafting. Although I have to say that since the bike is a 3 loop course, there were times on the first and even second loop where there was no way to not draft. There are just too many people on the course at the same time.
I do remember that I got passed by the first pro males around mile 17 or 18. They were, of course, on their second lap. I got passed by more around mile 30. As I was heading out on the second loop on the Beeline I saw Selene heading back into town. That made me happy as I knew she was worried about making the swim cutoff. I stopped a second time at the special needs station. Not because I needed my special needs bag, but because I needed to stretch a little and try to potty again.

At mile 80 I passed John. I figured Patrick would catch me at some point as he is usually a much stronger cyclist than me, although I was having a really good bike ride for me. Finally, when I made the final turnaround on the Beeline to head back toward town, I saw Patrick. I’m not sure how far behind me he was but at least I knew he was out on the course as well. John passed me again about mile 105 and I told him to go and have a good race. I figured I would catch him on the run.

The one big thing from the bike that I can remember is that at some point I can actually say that I passed a pro male. I do fully admit that he seemed to be hurting and I’m sure he probably dropped out of the race, but I can say I passed a pro on the bike. Ha!


Not stop so much. I stopped 3 times to potty/stretch and once to retrieve a bottle I lost off the back. My average speed of "ride time" was a little over 17mph and that makes me very happy as I am not a really stong cyclist. Other than that, I was very happy with my bike.

As I came back through town and got close to the transition area, I had a big smile on my face. I had made it through the bike with no mechanical issues and it was time for the run. As I approached the dismount line a volunteer said “I’ll take your bike.” I said, “you can have it”. That got a few laughs. I headed through transition and grabbed my bag for the run as I headed into the change tent. This time it didn’t take me as long since I didn’t change clothes. I just needed to ditch the bike stuff and put on my running shoes and I was out of there.

The only bad thing was that the vision issues I had in Florida kind of came back while I was in the change tent. In Florida, my vision became blurry with about 12 miles left on the bike and I never got clear vision again until after the race. I figured it was either from the wind or the salt air in Florida. And once again, my vision was a little blurry. Not as bad as at Florida, but I wasn’t really looking forward to running 26.2 miles with blurry vision again. Oh well.


Maybe not change socks, or at least remember to change them before putting shoes on. I had one shoe on before I remembered I was going to change and asked the volunteer to get my fresh socks. The volunteer I had here was wonderful - she asked what I needed, she took my bike shoes off for me, etc.

I headed out to do my run/walk. The plan was to run for 5 minutes and walk for 1. I felt fairly good as I headed out, but it felt like I might have a rock in my shoe. I also felt like I needed to use the restroom again. I decide I would stop at the first aid station to take care of things. If I had a rock in my shoe and left it there I knew I would have a huge blister at the end. When I got to the aid station I took off my shoe and sock. I didn’t see anything so I put it back on. I tried to take care of business without much success (this would be the theme for a while).

As I started running again I still felt like I had the rock in my shoe and I still felt like I needed to use the restroom. I stopped two more times and finally decided the “rock” in my shoe was most likely a callous that was just bothering me today. I also tried to think what could be causing the stomach issues.

I have a hard time drinking enough on the bike. Always. You should drink a bottle an hour and it usually takes me 1 ½ hours to drink a bottle. On the bike today I only drank 3 bottles. I knew I was a little dehydrated. I figured I need to get more liquids in me. It also got a little warm on the bike. Not Texas warm, but the dry air can be deceptive. After a long ride in the Texas heat, I am soaked in sweat. I came off the bike today almost completely dry. I decided I needed to get more salt in me. And there was also the possibility that the earlier cramps and issues were from female issues. Sorry if that’s too much information, but I had to look at all the possibilities. At a couple of aid stations I took the salty chips. And they tasted wonderful. But that meant I also had to take water because they made me thirsty. I couldn’t run when I had two cups of stuff, so I had to walk at some of the aid stations.

I kept up with my run/walk as best as I could that first lap. I saw my family as I neared the transition area which was nice. It gave me a little boost. I made the first lap and headed back out for the second of three laps. Somewhere before mile 13 I really felt like I had to potty. I stopped for a while to hopefully take care of things for the last time. And after that I decided to try the cola at the aid stations. I hadn’t done that at Florida, but when I took that first drink here it was heaven to my mouth. Yum!!!! From there on out I would take water or ice at one station and cola at the next.

The second loop was probably the worst, at least mentally. There are some parts of the course that head out to some fairly desolate areas and it was starting to get dark. Plus, it’s hard to know that you have to pass the turn to the finish yet again and do one more loop before you are done. Eight miles of a training run aren’t that bad, but 8 mile loops during an Ironman seem to take forever. I saw my family again and finally headed out for my third and final loop. I couldn’t be happier. I glanced at my watch and started calculating. Could I beat my time from Florida? What would it take to get there? I decided at this point to ignore my watch and run when I could and walk when I needed to. I knew I would finish at this point and I didn’t want to over stress my body but I still wanted to push as much as I could.

A lot of people were walking at this point, so I tried to be encouraging to those out on the course. As I was running at one point with two other women one of the spectators said “you ladies are making this look easy” and I said “we’re just really good actors”. That got a laugh.

I hit mile 23 and did calculations. I could beat my time from Florida as long as I ran some. But let me tell you. Those last three miles seemed like they took forever. When you are out on the course at this point, you are on the opposite side of the lake from the finish, but you can hear Mike Reilly at the finish line. It’s torture. You want to be there so bad. So when I made that turn to cross the bridge back to the other side I was beyond happy. And as I approached the spot where you could either turn to the finish or go out for your second or third lap, I knew I’d be making the final turn. It felt good. But darn if they didn’t make you climb a small incline to get to the finish chute. That didn’t stop me from running.

When I did Florida, I remember running down the chute, but since I couldn’t really see, I didn’t really “enjoy” it. I just ran down in the spotlight and crossed the finish line. I told myself I would enjoy this one. So I started high-fiving people. I went down one side at first and then went to the other side. I found out later if I would have stayed on the original side I would have gotten to high-five my kids. Oops. It’s just so bright that I couldn’t see them.

I got to the finish line and crossed with a huge smile on my face. Despite the cramp and cold of the water, despite the lower back pain on the bike and despite the stomach issues on the run, I felt great after crossing the finish line. I got my medal, my shirt and my hat and then I saw my family at the end of the chute. I made the detour for hugs. My daughter told me that one of her male friends watched me cross online. He told her I looked “bad ass” crossing the finish line. As a 42 year old woman, I’ll take that compliment any day from a young, fit teenage boy.


Try to stick more to my run/walk plan and maybe try the coke sooner if I have stomach issues.

I got my warm clothes from my family and told them I was going to get a massage and grab some food and that I would call them in a little bit to see where to meet them. I got my massage (which wasn’t that great – she only worked on the my quads and it was my back that really needed it – but it was free so I guess I can’t complain). I went to check out the food thinking I wouldn’t be able to eat anything (I can’t eat pizza) and they had French fries. Oh yeah. I grabbed some of those and a coke and sat for a bit talking to some other finishers. Then it was time to find my family.


Stomach issues that I have never had in a race before.


I have to admit to being a little dissappointed with my run since the run is usually the stonger event for me. After the swim, I was 51st in my age group; after the bike I was 79th and after the run I was 81st. So all day I lost places. Overall, however, I am happy because I took about 6 minutes off my time from Florida. A PR is a PR, no matter how you get it.